Battle of Ballyshannon
The Battle of Ballyshannon was the first battle of the Frontier War and one of the battles that kicked off the war entirely. The battle started when 8,000 warriors from The Celts invaded the city of Ballyshannon in the Independent State of Ulster with the intent on capturing the city and other nearby cities and coastal ports to use for food. Unlike the New Republic of Ireland in County Offaly, the Northern Irish were more mobilized and were capable of defending the city and pushed back the Celtic warriors and by the start of the next week, the Celts retreated due to the mobilization and technologically superior men and women volunteers of the Ulster Defence Forces. Prelude Prior to the war, the Independent State of Ulster had always retained a militarized border due to their hostilities with the New Republic of Ireland as a result of the Ulster War. Because of this mobilized army and constant on alert policy, Ballyshannon remained well guarded and protected. Ulster feared that if the city were to fall, it would be used to annex other territories on the British mainland and used the city and its roads to coastal ports to trade with the Kingdom of England and other factions on the British Mainland. Spies were sent into Ireland after the Celts began to emerge as a major threat and were annexing huge portions of western and central Ireland and had a security force stationed in Ballyshannon to protect it from a potential invasion, a fear that eventually came true. History Celtic Offensive At 9:28 AM, Celtic warriors were spotted outside of Ballyshannon and began attacking outer defenses of the city. Ground troops and bombers came in and began attacking the invading Celtic forces over and over with artillery firing on the hordes of Celtic warriors to drive them back, but the outer defenses were soon overrun and the surviving soldier had to retreat and headed back into the urban areas of the city. The bombers continued to fly over the Celtic armies dropping bomb after bomb over and over inflicting heavy casualties against the Celtic hordes. The urban areas were soon attacked and the south of Ballyshannon was turned into a battlefield and a bloodbath as the streets became warzones and the city's center was cut off by armor and ground forces to protect it from the Celtic armies. A chaotic evacuation was conducted as paniced civilians tried fleeing the city as the south turned into madness. Defending the City The Celtic armies continued to march forward as they pushed forward deeper into Ballyshannon with the intent on taking the city's center. Ulster soldiers and civilian militia fighters began pouring into the city to defend it and prevent the Celts from marching into more of Ulster's territory. From September 2nd - 4th, Celtic forces continued pouring into the city until they managed to make it to the outer portions of the city's center. There, the Northern Irish threw everything they had at them and began gunning down Celtic soldiers by the thousands and stalled their advance. The Celts set up shop in the occupied parts of the city, but they were subjected to constant bombardment and reinforcements from the rest of Ulster began arriving and preventing supplies from coming into the Celtic areas. Tanks, APCs and other armored vehicles arrived and began defending the city center while heavier vehicles such as tanks and APCs went into Celtic occupied areas of the city while lighter vehicles such as technicals stayed behind in the city center. The tanks delt with the Celts properly and only one tank was destroyed by a Celtic warrior who did a suicide bombing run. Within the city center, civilian and military vehicles were attacked by a small band of Celtic warriors who managed to break through, but were quickly pushed back and only a small handful remained within the city center. City's Liberation By September 6th, the Celtic forces were cut off and isolated with only a handful of them ever willing to surrender and the remaining forces were cut off from the rest of the Celtic lands and were forced into a last stand. At 12:40 PM, a force of 800-1,000+ Celtic warriors launched a final offensive into the city center with the intent on breaking the Ulster lines, but they failed and were soon bogged down in the buildings of the city. From the afternoon to sunset, the Celtic warriors were cut down one by one until the rest either surrendered or fled back into the southern portions of the city where they regrouped with their fellow brothers for their last stand. The last stand occured on September 8th when the final pockets of Celtic forces attacked and were ultimately killed by the superior Ulster forces and the city was finally liberated and reclaimed. Aftermath and Effects Ballyshannon had sustained a moderate amount of damage as only the southern portions of the city suffered the most damage. These parts were quickly rebuilt and reclaimed, but the people of Ulster were shocked. The Celts had attacked and killed many Northern Irish and many in Ulster knew that a war had come and this was further proven when news reports came out that County Offaly in New Ireland was attacked and taken over by the Celts and they began besieging the nation. Ulster Prime Minister Harry Peterson stood in front of the nation and declared war on the Celts and announced that the nation would have to ally with the New Republic of Ireland to drive out the Celtic threat. The people agreed and thus, the Northeastern Campaign would start in the coming weeks as Ulster forces collaborated with New Irish troops to repeal the Celts from Ireland once and for all. Category:Battles Category:Events